The Two-Hour Accent

Last week I got an audition I was very excited about, a great opportunity for an awesome casting office. I was scrambling a bit, as I only got word of the audition a few hours before my actual appointment time... but I knew I could handle the short notice. I'm a quick study, after all.

Then I looked at the character breakdown. The role called for a very unique accent... one that I didn't even remotely have in my bag of tricks...

Not going to lie, I freaked out for about two minutes. Great, I get into this awesome casting office and I've got to introduce myself to them as an actor with an accent I have no familiarity with!

Then I remembered that freaking out never helped anyone. I did a few quick Google searches for sound clips and information about the accent, and spent the next hour listening and working my sides with what I was able to pick up. I decided that it was better to full-on go for it (the sides specified that my character's accent was heavy) rather than try to fake it with something subtle.

I felt pretty good about my research, but wasn't postive I was pulling it off in such a short amount of time. I made a choice to get over second guessing myself, I went in and gave it my best...

The first thing the CD said to me at the end of my read was that I had a great accent. Go figure!

Just goes to show you that you're better off just biting the bullet and working on something than letting it overwhelm you. Who knows, you might even find something new to add to the special skills section of your resume. (I did!)

-- Laura Hunter

 

Comments

[Rachel F. Hirsch]

Good for you for going for it! I've been in that situation before, and in a crunch, youtube is an INCREDIBLE tool for picking up new dialects. It sounds like your choice to go full force with it, rather than subtly hinting at the accent, was a good one. They can always ask you scale back a bit, but if there is only a hint of the rights sounds there they could assume that's the best you can do. Congratulations on a successful audition!

[Tim]

It's like they always say in a beginning acting class. Commit to WHATEVER your doing in a scene, and what you're bringing to it. Thanks for really making that hit home to me just now.
Congrats!

[Valerie Weak]

I've been saved several times by the IDEA website (International Dialects of English Archive). You can google it or I've got the link and more info in this blogpost: http://sfbayareaactor.blogspot.com/2011/01/resource-of-week-online-shakespeare-and.html

I'm definitely going to start doing youtube searches for dialect/accents, though.
Thanks for the tip!

[Laura Hunter]

Thanks for the comments, you guys! (Also for the great link, Valerie!)

xo